Team for Advanced Flow Simulation and Modeling

Cross Parachute Analysis with
Parallel Computing on the CRAY T3E-1200

This project is part of a greater research effort by the T*AFSM on
airdrop systems. Our research on airdrop systems involves extensive
collaborations with US Army Natick Soldier Center
(NSC) and NASA Johnson Space Center. The specifications of the
cross parachute were provided by our collaborators at NSC. CDT
McCourtney's project work included mesh generation and parallel
computations using the stabilized finite element methods and software
developed by the T*AFSM. In this project, CDT McCourtney was helped by
Dr. Andrew Johnson, at that time a research associate supervised by Tezduyar.
Figure 1 shows the finite element mesh. Figure
2 shows the computed flow field at an instant.

Figure 1. Finite element mesh for the cross parachute.

Figure 2. Computed flow field around the cross parachute at an instant.
Vorticity magnitude.